


We Know Better

by AuraSweet13



Series: The siblings of Tehran [1]
Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Gen, Heavily inspired by 'We Know Better' from Frozen, Just sibling fluff, The dialogue is meant to be Farsi and not English, as evidenced by the title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 06:46:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7034218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuraSweet13/pseuds/AuraSweet13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tehran, Iran, early 1993. Featuring two grieving siblings, a soccer ball, and a beautiful spring day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Know Better

Fourteen-year-old Samar Navabi wiped the back of her arm across her forehead. It was decently warm in the house, and in all of her movement, she had begun to sweat. But as long as there were chores to be done, she wouldn't stop. She couldn't stop.

Their parents had been dead almost a year, and if she lingered too long in the main hallway, in front of her father's study, she could see the blood stains on the carpet, now black. No matter how hard she'd tried to get them out, they hadn't budged. Luckily, the ones on the wall had disappeared pretty easily with some thorough scrubbing.

Samar made a mental note, when she finished cleaning the house, to get Faraj or Cyrus to help her get rid of the rug. Her father may have liked it, but now that he was gone...having it there would only be a reminder to both herself and Shahin of all that they had lost in such a short time. Given how large their house was, and how empty it now was, there was always a lot of cleaning to be done. But she didn't mind. The cleaning distracted her, and she desperately needed a distraction.

She startled a little feeling something tap against her foot. Looking down, she found a familiar black and white ball.

Samar remembered the day it had come into the house clearly. It had been for Shahin's eighth birthday, and he had been eyeing it every time they passed the shop it was in. He'd been over the moon to receive it, and had played with the soccer ball nearly every day up until the fateful day that changed everything. He hadn't touched it since, until now.

Looking up, she found Shahin standing there. _"Sam, I know you're cleaning."_ He said, scuffing the toes of his socked foot against the floor almost shyly. _"But I was wondering if you'd kick the ball around with me a little in the yard?"_

She looked up, out the window. The sun was shining, reminding her that even if the world as they knew it had stopped the day they lost their parents, the world itself had gone right on spinning. It looked quite beautiful out, and she longed to be out there again-since she had 'become a woman', as her aunt Vashti put it, she had seldom gone outside for anything.

Besides, she could never say no to Shahin. _"Okay, just let me finish sweeping up here, and then I'll take a break and we can head out to the backyard. Sound good?"_ She spoke softly, unable to stop herself from grinning at his enthusiastic nod as he ran out towards the back yard.

She never rushed through her chores, especially not as of late, but this time, she was a little more hurried than usual.

 

When she was finished, as promised, she headed out towards the yard herself, stopping only to put on her shoes. They were soft, well worn, and comfortable. Father had a pair made on her ninth birthday, and whenever her feet grew, he always had a new pair made. The thought _Who will do that now?_ came into her head before she could stop it, but she quickly pushed it away, smiling as she watched Shahin do some tricks with the ball. _"Now, I can't promise I'll be any good, but I'll try my best."_ She told him, half as a warning, and half just to get it out there. For obvious reasons, he was always more of the athlete than she was, but really, how hard could it be to kick a ball around?

 _"It's easy! I'll teach you!"_ Shahin placed the ball on the ground, and then kicked it to her. To her surprise and delight, she managed to stop it with her foot and kick it back to him.

It had been ages since she was allowed to do this so freely, and it felt more than good. Though she knew if they were in the streets of Tehran, it would be much different. After all, she was a young woman now, things like that were improper. But here, in the safety of their back yard, 'proper' behaviour didn't matter. They could just have fun, be the children they were-despite what society seemed to think.

Judging from the smile on his face, it wasn't hard for her to assume that Shahin felt the same way.

They kicked the ball back and forth, sometimes moving around the yard to make it interesting. Of course, they avoided their parents' graves. But for the first time since that day, Samar found that the fact that they were out there didn't hurt like she had been expecting it to.

It felt calming, comfortable. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze.

Time seemed not to matter, for the first time in a while.

By the time they headed back inside, the sun was considerably lower, and Samar knew that she had to get supper started. _"Are you hungry, Shahin?"_ She asked, laughing as he nodded eagerly. _"I'll make some Barbari bread and ash-e anar, okay? How does that sound?"_

 _"Sounds great."_ He said, and then he hugged her. _"Thank you for today."_

She hugged him back, relishing the feeling of him in her arms. _"You're very welcome, Shahin."_ She pressed a kiss to the top of his head as he pulled away.

 _"Can we do it again tomorrow?"_ Shahin looked up at her with his wide, innocent brown eyes.

 _"We'll see."_ Samar said, and how much she sounded like their _madar_ shocked her. But a lot had changed in nearly a year. Never was that more obvious.

Turning around, she headed into the kitchen, feeling calmer than she had in a while.


End file.
